Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Review ~ Scent of Valor by Annie Nicholas with a giveaway

After
spending twenty years trapped in her civil body, Kele can finally shift into
feral form. By tooth and claw, she’s determined to climb the Payami pack
hierarchy.

Her
parents plan to mate her with a hunter from a rival pack, but her heart’s
already been stolen by the most unsuitable wolf possible—Peder, an omega male.
She’d gladly give him her body except he’s disappeared from her life. Maybe
into the thieving arms of another female.

Peder
has spent every moment of their forced separation training to be a hunter. When
he hears of her arranged marriage, he fears he’s waited too long to trespass
back onto Payami lands to fight for her hand—but he damned well isn’t giving
up.

On
his journey to confront Kele, Peder is attacked and wakes in a cage, helpless
as a band of vampires attack Kele’s mating party. Separated by social standing,
thrown together by tragedy, they must work together to survive. And find out if
their attraction is merely puppy love, or a bond that’s stronger than time.

Warning:
This book contains an omega male who’s done submitting and a hunter female who
isn’t used to needing anyone to come to her rescue. Violence ensues, not for
the faint of heart.

<![endif]-->Scent of Valor

by Annie Nicholas

Genre: paranormal
romance

Book Length: 300 pages

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Purchase Links:

The pack
paraded toward the den’s living area. There were calls for wine and someone
struck up a beat on the drums. Not a single person made eye contact or offered
her a word of encouragement. They wouldn’t. It was rude to comfort the loser.

Loser. That stung more than she’d
thought it could.

She faced
the ring and discovered her parents had stayed behind—the alpha female and male
of the Payami. She flinched. Their disappointment seared her to the soul. Was
it really that shameful to hesitate
before slaughtering a packmate? Tegrathe had been one of the few shifters who
would play with her when they’d been pups. Was she supposed to ignore the fact
that the female would leave behind a loving mate and their children?

The ache
within her chest grew until it hurt to breathe. Kele pointed a bloody claw at
her mother. “You set me up to fail. Why?” Her voice didn’t shake for once when
faced with her alpha’s displeasure.

Her mother,
Chaska, crossed the ring, her midnight hair a tangled storm around her head.
She tossed Kele’s clothes at her feet. “Shift and get dressed. You should
attend to Tegrathe’s injured leg, healer.”
To add insult, Chaska turned her back on Kele, as if she wasn’t a threat, and
she left.

“I don’t
recall advising you to challenge Tegrathe.” Inali, her father, waited as she
shifted to civil form and dressed. She was still learning not to blush when
forced to be nude in front of others. Unlike other shifter children, she hadn’t
learned her trigger emotion to shift to feral form until a few months ago.
Others had grown up shifting and dressing in front of each other. She hadn’t.

“I don’t
recall you advising me on anything,” she shouted. “Only mother seems interested
in me, now that I can fight the challenges she can only dream about. How am I
supposed to learn about becoming alpha if you won’t help teach me?”

“One doesn’t
learn to become alpha, Kele. It’s not like healing. I have no books for you to
read or lessons to give.”

Part of
Kele’s feral side still had hold on her, and she snarled at him like an animal.

He
approached her. Each step hinted at the commanding beast under his skin. Her
father sent shock waves of alpha attitude without trying. It oozed from his
pores like magic. “You’re lucky no one was around to witness that. I would have
had to put you to the ground for being so aggressive.” He smoothed some of her
pale hair from her face. “What did you learn today?”

She inhaled.
He smelled of stone and dust and power. It soothed her frayed nerves. “That I’m
a fool.”

“Besides
that.”

Staring at the
ring, she pictured Tegrathe on the ground, crawling toward her, gravely
injured. She glanced down at the cuts across her shins—cuts that Tegrathe had
given her even though the hunter hadn’t been able to stand. Tegrathe wouldn’t
give in. She would have died first. “I didn’t want to kill her.”

“And?”

Blood rushed
from her head and weakened her knees. “She would have killed me before
accepting a loss.” She clutched her father’s hand. “Is that the difference? I
should be ready to kill before ever losing? Is that what makes her better than
me?”

He stroked
her hair, the same pale shade of yellow as his. “Yes.”

Kele jerked
from his touch. “She would have sacrificed her life and left behind a family
just to be more dominant than me.”

His laugh
was sharp. “You sound surprised. This challenge would have cost her the pack’s
respect. If you truly want to lead shifters, Kele, you have to be willing to
kill for them at any cost. The pack doesn’t value weakness.”

“And mercy
is a weakness?” She wanted to pull out her hair.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Annie
Nicholas writes paranormal romance with a twist. She has courted vampires,
hunted with shifters, and slain a dragon’s ego all with the might of her pen.
Riding the wind of her imagination, she travels beyond the restraints of
reality and shares them with anyone wanting to read her stories. Mother,
daughter, and wife are some of the other hats she wears while hiking through
the hills and dales of her adopted state of Vermont.

My Thoughts: I liked the first book in this series just a little more. This one was pretty good though. :-)Scent of Valor had many different things happen that both entertained me and left me distracted. For me less is more. If too many things are going on, or if there isn't romance in a book, I tend to get distracted easily.This book had the same great characters from book one with some new characters that I liked too!There was lots of action, shifters, vampires, steam, bad guys, some surprises, steam and some romance too.I like this series and will continue to read books about these characters as long as she writes them.I received an ecopy in exchange for my honest opinion. I honestly thought it was pretty good. She has a way of writing that is unique to her and her books showcase that. :-)

Don't forget to enter the Comment Incentive Giveaway. It is a great chance to win a book you'd like to have! The link can be found at the top of the page.

About Me

I am a middle aged wife and mother of three boys. Because life is often hectic, I self medicate with good books! It is a cheap form of therapy. I have found that it does wonders for my sanity! lol!
My favorite types of books to read are paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy,and young adult.

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If you are an author, publisher, or publicist that would like me to review a book, email me: brendem7@comcast.net.

Mostly I read paranormal and contemporary romances, young adult, and urban fantasy. I do not like historicals or horror!

I try to post reviews in a timely manner and in addition to posting them on my blog, I will post them on Goodreads, Amazon, Kobo, and B&N. Posts are also on my Twitter and Facebook as well. I look forward to working with you.